Sequelstuck
by aetherArchivist
Summary: My idea of what a successful game of SBURB would actually look like. Of course, that doesn't mean it's not without challenges! The characters (so far) are completely original. This is probably going to be fairly long. Mild language, perhaps more intense language later, and scenes of violence later on as well. Disclaimer: Andrew Hussie owns all of this, including my soul.
1. The Journey Begins

Alex squared off against his opponent. Their fist hurtled towards him, but he turned the blow aside easily. He stepped inside their defenses and aimed two quick jabs at them. They blocked, but Alex was expecting that. He danced back, waiting for their next move. It didn't take long, and this time it came in the form of a foot hurtling towards him in a roundhouse kick. Alex just dropped to the ground, letting the kick pass overhead. His own foot shot out and caught his foe's other leg, sending them crashing to the ground. Alex performed a kip up into standing position, putting one foot on his opponent's chest. He grinned down at his sparring partner.

"Well done, Alex!" their sensei said. Alex nodded appreciatively and reached out a hand to help Soto, his best friend and sparring partner, to his feet.

"I don't know why I even bother with this anymore…" Soto said, "You always kick my ass." He rubbed said region, sore from having landed on it.

"Hey, you kick my ass in video games, and you never hear me complain," Alex said.

"You complain all the time!" Soto protested.

"Yes, but that's over Pesterchum, so you never actually _hear_ it."

"Smart-ass."

"Yeah, and the rest of me is even more intelligent."

Soto didn't deign to respond to that, instead smacking Alex upside the head.

"That's it for today, boys," their sensei said, smiling at their repartee. "I'll see you next Friday for practice." The boys nodded and bowed to him.

Ten minutes later, they walked out of the dojo together. Alex Nite and Nick Soto: although they looked alike, with large builds and brown hair, they were like night and day personality-wise, but you never found one without the other. They were like brothers, for all intents and purposes. Alex's real brother, his identical twin Kyle, also normally hung out with them; however, he was in Iceland as part of the foreign exchange program. They kept in touch through Pesterchum, although Soto seemed to talk to him more.

"Have any luck with Kyra recently?" Soto asked as they walked. Alex's silence was answer enough. Kyra Yung was, in Alex's opinion, the prettiest girl in school. She was a dancer, and Alex has been pining over her since freshman year. Unfortunately, she never noticed him. Of course, she never really noticed anyone, really. She was a loner, rarely talking to anyone.

"Oh by the way, want to play that new game I got? It just came out today, so we'd be some of the first to play," Soto said. He was always trying to get Alex to play some video game or another.

"What is it this time?"

"It's called SBURB. It's an immersive adventure game with sim components. I'm going to ask Kyle to join, too, when I see him on Pesterchum next."

"Alright, I guess I'm up for it."

"Great! Oh by the way, how's that Fetch Modus that I got you for your Sylladex working? The one I gave you on your 'sweet sixteen.'"

"The Wallet Modus? Like a charm. It's so easy." Alex demonstrated by retrieving his gi from his Sylladex, then proceeding to Captchalogue them again.

"Have you allocated the Kind Abstratus for your Strife Specibus yet?"

"Dude, like six years ago. I mean, we got the fistkind card from sensei, but I've had my Strife Specibus set as 2xkamakind forever. Haven't you?"

"I haven't really seen the point."

"True, it's not like we really fight anything. I guess fistkind is sufficient."

"Plus it means that if I run into problems, I can allocate my Specibus to whatever's on hand."

"I guess."

"Well I guess I'll see you later," Soto said as they reached Alex's house. "I want to start playing tonight, while we still have the entire weekend."

"Okay, later."

"Oh, and ask Sara if she wants to play. I think this is a game that gets more fun the more players you have. See ya."

Alex's thoughts turned to Sara Hart. She was definitely his most… _aggressive_ friend. She was an avid gamer on her Z-Cube console, almost always first-person shooter games. She also confused Alex, who was normally adept at reading people. Despite the fact that he seemed to perpetually annoyed her, she always wanted to talk to him.

Alex reached his room and hopped on his computer. His Pesterchum icon was flashing, indicating that someone was trying to talk to him. He clicked on it and, no surprise, it was Sara.

* * *

- gamergirlAflame [GA] began pestering aetherArchivist [AA] at 16:43 –

GA: heyy •w•

AA: Hiya

AA: Sup?

GA: oh, not much

GA: im having a bonfire tonite, wanna come? •w-

AA: I promised Soto I'd play some video game with him

AA: Anyways, your fires always get out of hand

GA: i cant help it that im a pyro… uwu

AA: Speaking of this game, do you want to play with us?

AA: It's called Suburb, or something

GA: oh, SBURB? I heard its only for pc

AA: Um, I think so…

GA: i dont game on computers, u kno that

GA: anyways, i havent bought it

AA: Oh, you know Soto… he'll just send you the file

GA: meh, i dont think i want to play

AA: Please?

GA: …

GA: mebbe

GA: u n soto play, i might join later

GA: if u rly want me to •w•

AA: I do

GA: ^w^

AA: What's that face for?

GA: nothin

GA: gotta go, cya •w-

AA: Okay, later

- gamergirlAflame [GA] ceased pestering aetherArchivist [AA] at 16:55 –

* * *

Alex noticed that Soto had been trying to contact him while he was talking to Sara. He opened the Pesterlog.

* * *

- temporalArcanum [TA] began pestering aetherArchivist [AA] at 16:53–

TA: Hey.

TA: I took the liberty of starting the installation process of SBURB on your computer remotely.

AA: Wait, you can do that?

TA: Obviously. Your computer isn't very well-protected. I could install anything I like on there.

AA: *Sigh*

TA: You know you love me.

TA: Oh, and Kyle agreed to play.

TA: As soon as your installation is done, I'll connect as your server player. Then Kyle will be my server player. Is Sara joining?

AA: She's a maybe

TA: If she does join, she'll be Kyle's server player, then you'll be hers.

AA: What's a server player, exactly?

TA: The server player can control the client player's environment, building up the house and putting down special devices necessary for gameplay. I read a basic summary.

TA: Ready to play?

AA: Hold on, someone's pestering me

AA: I'll be right back

- aetherArchivist [AA] ceased pestering temporalArcanum [TA] at 17:01 –

* * *

-amityGhostcaller [AG] began pestering aetherArchivist [AA] at 17:00 –

AG: hello, Alex

AA: Oh, you again

AA: Still not gonna tell me who you are?

AG: no, sorry

AG: my mentors have advised against it at this point

AA: Ah yes, your mysterious "mentors"

AA: I'm assuming their identity will remain in the dark, too?

AG: for now

AG: I'm sorry, but it's the way it has to be

AG: but they asked me to deliver a message

AA: Oh?

AG: to be ready

AA: For what?

AG: they didn't say

AA: Helpful…

AG: but they did have something else for you

AA: Another cryptic message?

AG: they said that Doom will lead you, but that it's not necessarily bad

AA: So yes, more useless mumbo-jumbo

AG: don't take their advice lightly

AG: also, they asked me to give you this code: Do0M1cOn

AA: What's that for?

AG: I'm not sure

AG: just remember: death is not the end

AA: …

AA: What?

- amityGhostcaller [AG] ceased pestering aetherArchivist [AA] at 17:08 –

* * *

- aetherArchivist [AA] began pestering temporalArcanum [TA] at 17:09 –

AA: Sorry, it was AG

TA: Your mystery friend? How'd that go?

AA: I dunno, he said some weird shit

TA: Weirder than normal?

AA: Yeah

TA: Interesting.

TA: How do we know he's a guy, again?

AA: I'm just guessing

TA: I see.

TA: Are you ready now?

AA: Ugh, it's actually dinner time right now

AA: We'll play after, I promise

TA: We'd better.

AA: Later

- aetherArchivist [AA] ceased pestering temporalArcanum [TA] at 17:13 –


	2. Welcome to SBURB

Soto leaned back in his chair and sighed. Alex had never been very punctual. That was one of the differences between them; Soto always strived to be on time. They were different in a lot of ways. Alex was very excitable, adventurous, energetic, and extroverted, in contrast to Soto's more subdued, introverted nature. For an intelligent person, Alex was optimistic to the point of seemingly purposeful ignorance, whereas Soto tried to be more realistic. Even their interests weren't the same. Alex studied mythology and paleontology avidly, and he was artistic, being very musical and a lover of fantasy literature. Soto, meanwhile, focused on programming, hacking, and robotics, and relaxed with a good computer game or sci-fi movie or TV show.

Still, they were best friends, for whatever reason. Alex's crazy nature had an odd sort of charisma to it, and in any event, the two of them had been friends when they were outcasts together, unworthy of anyone else's attention. They were a bit more accepted nowadays, but they still tended to stick to themselves, as well as Kyle.

Kyle Nite, Alex's twin brother. He was identical in every way, except that he grew his hair longer than Alex, and he had been deafened at an early age. He was perhaps even more energetic than his brother, verging on ADHD. He spent most of his time online, reading webcomics—especially ones with furries—and ordering new additions to his toy collection. He even had a fursona, an anthropomorphic white wolf named Arctic. He also loved pets, and he was very upset when he was only allowed to take one with him to Iceland. He chose his pet jumping spider, Fang, mainly because Alex was arachnophobic and absolutely refused to take care of him. Soto would never admit it, especially not to Alex, but he maybe, possibly had a small, teensy-tiny crush on Kyle, kinda-sorta.

Soto opened up his web browser, Hephaestus, and spent some time researching different programming languages while he waited for Alex to return from dinner. Soto lived with his cousin, and they rarely had meals together. Soon, Soto noticed his Pesterchum tab flashing. Though he was hoping it was Alex, he wasn't to let down to see Kyle's chumhandle.

* * *

- arcticTemerities began pestering temporalArcanum [TA] at 17:32 –

AT: *Arctic pads up to his friend Soto and barks a greeting*

TA: Hi to you, too.

AT: *Arctic tilts his head as if asking "what's up?"*

TA: Waiting for your brother to get back on so that we can start playing SBURB.

AT: *Arctic wags his tail at the idea of playing SBURB with his friends*

TA: You're wearing that ridiculous wolf hood, aren't you?

AT: *Arctic whines at the suggestion that his hood is ridiculous*

TA: Whatever.

TA: Alex is back. I'm going to connect to him now. See you when I become a client player!

AT: *Arctic waves goodbye*

- temporalArcanum [TA] ceased pestering arcticTemerities at 17:39 –

* * *

-temporalArcanum [TA] began pestering aetherArchivist [AA] at 17:40 –

TA: You'd better be ready, now.

AA: Patience, young grasshopper

TA: Shut up and start the game.

AA: Okay, it says that a host has connected

TA: That's me. Hit Enter.

AA: The Enter key has been pressed.

* * *

After a moment of loading, the game window popped up on Soto's computer. Through it, he could see Alex sitting at his computer in his room. Soto moved the cursor—shaped like the SBURB logo—over to Alex's computer. He clicked on it and moved it around. He could see Alex flailing, trying to grab it. Soto zoomed out and dropped the computer in the lawn. Apparently, Alex didn't need to be in proximity of his computer for the game to work.

* * *

TA: Sorry about that, just getting a feel for the controls. This is pretty fun.

TA: Alex?

TA: Oh, right, your computer's in your lawn…

TA: Oops.

* * *

Soto shrugged and decided to deploy some stuff while Alex retrieved his computer. He opened the Phernalia Registry and selected one of the items, a Cruxtruder. He placed the large object in a hallway where he found space. At that point, he noticed Alex coming down the same hallway, trying to get outside. Soto smacked his forehead. The way was now blocked by the Cruxtruder.

Alex looked confused for a moment, then ran back into his room. When he came back into the hallway, he had a marker in hand. He wrote on the wall in large black letters: NICE GOING, THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY OUT. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET MY COMPUTER NOW? I THOUGHT YOU WERE _GOOD_ AT VIDEO GAMES. DIPSHIT.

Soto rolled his eyes, but it was admittedly a good point. He then realized that the simplest solution was to retrieve the computer himself, putting it back in the same way he moved it. He found the computer again and picked it up with the cursor. He navigated the screen so that it showed Alex's room again and dropped the computer. Unfortunately, he was still getting used to the viewport, and he missed the computer desk. Alex's computer crashed to the floor and fell apart. Apparently functionality of the computer wasn't a prerequisite to continuing to play the game, either.

Alex walked into his room and found the wreckage. He wrote on the wall: DIPSHIT. Soto ignored this, and instead deployed the Totem Lathe from the Phernalia Registry into a blank space along one of Alex's bedroom walls. He couldn't find a space for the Alchemiter, so he put it on the roof. Luckily, it was accessible via a window in Alex's room.

While Alex was examining this mysterious equipment, Soto searched the house for another communication device. He finally found a smartphone in another, very messy, bedroom. He picked it up with the cursor, found Alex, and _oh so carefully_ dropped it on his head while he was examining the Cruxtruder. At the feel of the phone hitting his head, he startled, tripped, and fell against the strange machine. His impact knocked loose the lid, and some purple, glowing, hovering, circular thing popped out. A timer on the Cruxtruder started counting down from five minutes and five seconds. Alex looked shocked, then hurriedly Captchalogued the smartphone and proceeded to use it.

* * *

AA: One, I thought I'd lost this phone, where did you find it?

AA: Two, WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?

AA: This thing is speaking nonsense at me

TA: I found it in Kyle's room.

AA: That bitch…

TA: And I've been looking up some walkthroughs, but most of them are scarce on information.

TA: This, apparently, is a "Kernelsprite," and it needs to be prototyped, or something. Twice. Whatever that means.

TA: The Cruxtruder should now produce Cruxite rods, if you turn the handle on the side.

* * *

Alex did so, and a cylinder the same color as the Kernelsprite came out. Soto noticed that there was another item in the Phernalia Registry, a pre-punched card. He dropped it, and Alex Captchalogued it, as well as the Cruxite.

* * *

AA: Okay, now what the hell do I do?

TA: Um, it says you're supposed to use the Cruxite in conjunction with the pre-punched card at the Totem Lathe. I'm not sure how that works, though.

AA: I'll figure it out, you work on what prototyping means.

TA: Right.

* * *

Soto maneuvered the viewport to follow Alex into his room. The Kernelsprite followed him as well. While Alex fiddled with the device, Soto examined his room more closely.

* * *

TA: Wow, you have a lot of dragon statues.

AA: Yeah, I like fantasy

AA: So?

TA: I'm going to try putting one into the Kernelsprite to see if that prototypes it, okay?

AA: Sure

AA: Now shuddup, I'm working here

* * *

Soto picked up the statue of a particularly cool looking dragon. It looked very dangerous and powerful. He dragged it over to the Kernelsprite and dropped it in.

There was a bright flash of light that completely obscured the viewport. After it subsided, Soto saw that his idea was successful. The Kernelsprite now was the head and wings of the dragon statue, surrounded by a circle and still purple. Alex looked stunned, probably from the bright light.

* * *

AA: That's… kinda cool

AA: It's still talking gibberish, though

TA: Yeah, this is only the first tier of prototyping.

TA: I'm assuming that after the second prototyping, it'll be intelligible.

TA: What should we use?

AA: We can figure that out later

AA: That timer on the Cruxtruder is slightly disturbing

TA: Yes, the walkthroughs seem to mention some sort of incoming disaster.

TA: But the entries get less and less informative as time goes on.

TA: They also sound more panicked in their later posts.

AA: …

AA: YOU ONLY NOW DECIDED TO MENTION THIS?

TA: Well don't stand around all day, get going.

AA: Yeah, yeah

AA: I think I've figured out how this thing works

* * *

Alex put the Cruxite in between a set of clamps on the Lathe, and then inserted the pre-punched card into a slot. The machine made the Cruxite start spinning, then it lowered a configuration of chisels. This ultimately carved the Cruxite into an odd, rotationally symmetrical shape.

* * *

AA: Okay, now what?

TA: Right… A lot of walkthroughs don't get to this point.

TA: This is called a Totem.

TA: I'm not sure what you do with it…

AA: Considering we haven't used the platform thingy on the roof, we'll start with that

TA: Good idea. And it's called an Alchemiter.

AA: Whatever, as long as it works.

* * *

Soto watched as Alex climbed, with some difficulty, out of the window. The roof looked like it was proving to be difficult to navigate, but Alex made it to the flat section that had the Alchemiter on it. He looked up.

* * *

AA: HOLY SHIT!

TA: What?!

AA: Um, I think I figured out the impending disaster

AA: There appears to be a large meteor hurtling towards my house

AA: Or possibly a comet

TA: That doesn't sound good.

TA: According to the Cruxtruder, you don't have much time left…

AA: This had better work!

AA: What does this even do?

TA: No one got this far…

TA: The Alchemiter is supposed to make things based on the Totem, but no one's made the pre-punched card's item.

TA: It probably has something to do with the picture on it, and I believe it's crucial to your success. To your survival even.

AA: So it's gonna be a log? How is that gonna help?

TA: I dunno, just try it. Time is running out!

* * *

Alex put the Totem onto a part of the Alchemiter. Soto's attention turned to the clock as the Alchemiter scanned the Totem. Fifteen seconds left… In the center platform of the Alchemiter, a purple, dead tree sprang up, then toppled over. There was a purple ax next to it, which Alex picked up.

* * *

AA: What do I do?!

TA: I dunno, chop it!

* * *

Alex took a swing at the fallen tree, the ax biting into the wood.

Five…

Another swing.

Four…

He was halfway through.

Three…

So close...

Two…

Alex's next swing chopped clean through the log.

There was a flash of light.

Soto felt the meteor's impact from his house two miles away.


	3. A Whole New World

Alex groaned and sat up. He remembered seeing the comet hurtling towards him, then there was a flash of light, and had felt as though he was being stretched out and squished at the same time. After that, all he could recall was what looked like sunlight filtering through leaves before he blacked out.

He had never blacked before, so he wasn't sure if it was unusual to dream while unconscious. However, the dream itself was quite odd. For one thing, it had actually felt quite real, but like he was half-asleep. As it was, he could barely remember anything. The only thing he could, in fact, recall was a dark room and a darker figure standing over him, something shining in its hand.

Even that faded away as Alex came to full consciousness. He stared at his surroundings. Apparently his house, including some of the yard, was now in a giant tree, suspended by very large branches. The tree extended above him, and the trunk looked four times as wide as the house. Alex noticed that Soto had been pestering him.

* * *

TA: Dude, wake up.

TA: God dammit.

- temporalArcanum [TA] is now an idle chum –

AA: I'm here

TA: Finally!

TA: I've been doing some research and experimentation while you were out.

TA: Apparently, I have access to something called "Build Grist." This appears to be a limited commodity, and I'm not sure how to get any more.

TA: Anyways, Build Grist is used to alter your house, add stuff on and such.

TA: There are also other types of grist that we need to discover. There's a machine that I can deploy called a "Punch Disignix" that requires five pieces of Quartz.

AA: What happened to the Kernelsprite?

TA: I'm not entirely sure…

TA: When you entered this place, it separated into a Kernel and a Sprite. The Kernel flew off somewhere, leaving the Sprite, which turned into some sort of dragon-ghost.

AA: Okay…?

AA: And where is that?

TA: I'm not sure, it wandered off.

TA: Anyways, I believe that the machines I deployed are for more than just transporting you to wherever you are now. It seems that they can create a variety of objects using punched cards, which I'm assuming the Punch Disignix is for.

AA: So then we just need to get some Quartz

TA: Exactly.

TA: And, um, there appears to be some kind of monster behind you…

* * *

Alex spun around to face a weird little demon thing with a dragon head. It looked like it was made from crystal or something. It rushed at him and, without thinking, Alex punched it square in the jaw. While it stumbled back, Alex drew his two kamas from his Strife Deck. When the creature charged him again, he tripped it up with one, then plunged the other into its back. The dragon-demon, apparently beaten, disappeared. It left behind odd-looking fragments, which vanished when Alex picked them up. He also became aware that he'd advanced two Achievement Rungs in his Echeladder, becoming an "Imp Bopper." This achievement granted him 125 Boonbucks and a larger Grist Cache. He wasn't entirely sure how he knew this…

* * *

AA: What was that?

TA: According to my viewport, it was a "Quartz Imp."

AA: Why did it look all… dragony?

TA: I'm assuming it has something to do with the prototyping.

TA: Anyways, we got 32 pieces of Build Grist and 10 pieces of Quartz from it.

TA: We're up to 52 pieces of Build Grist now. Unfortunately, I need 100 pieces to move that Cruxtruder out of the way.

TA: But we're in luck… it appears that your entire house is crawling with Quartz Imps.

AA: Oh man… Anyways, you can deploy the Punch Disignix now, right?

TA: Oh, yes! I almost forgot.

TA: Okay, there, it's in Kyle's room.

AA: …

AA: Which is past the Cruxtruder…

TA: Hold on, I have an idea.

* * *

Suddenly, a platform stretched out from the roof. Alex cautiously followed it as it extended around his house to the window to his brother's room. He opened the window and carefully climbed in.

* * *

AA: Okay, great… but it would be helpful if you put in a railing or something

TA: What, scared of heights?

AA: No, just of falling from them

TA: Whatever, you just figure out what to do with the Disginix.

AA: Right

* * *

The Punch Disignix looked like some sort of piano keyboard, except without the keys. Instead, it had a computer-like keyboard, a card slot, and a diagram seemingly indicating that Alex was to enter the code found on the back of a Captchalogue Card.

He decided that the only way to figure this thing out was to experiment, so flipped over the Captchalogue Card containing his gi, which he wore for martial arts practice. There was a captcha code on there, like there was on all Captchalogue Cards. He'd never really understood the purpose, but now he punched the 8-character code into the Disignix and fed the card into the slot. It came out with rectangular holes punched in it, like the pre-punched card he'd used to generate the log. Too late, Alex realized that he could no longer access the clothing in the card or the use the card for anything else. He luckily had plenty of spare cards, and he guessed that he could replicate the gi with the Alchemiter, but he was going to use empty cards in the future for the hole designs.

It was at that point that Alex remembered the 8-character code that AG had sent to him. He typed "Do0M1cOn" into the Designix and fed a blank card into it. This gave him a card with a different set of holes.

He felt something crash behind him. Spinning around, he found that Kyle's bed had been moved, and there was a lot of Grist surrounding it. He contacted Soto.

* * *

AA: What just happened?

TA: Three imps were sneaking up on you, so I squashed them with the bed.

AA: Oh

AA: Thanks

TA: No problem.

AA: Well, I figured out how to punch cards

AA: I'm gonna go put them into the Totem Lathe

TA: Okay. The imps have been playing with the Cruxtruder, so I moved some of the Cruxite they created into your room.

AA: Great, thanks

* * *

Alex went back across the outside walkway, which thankfully now had a guard rail, and he found there was a new entrance to his room. A shortcut that Soto had apparently made. He went over the Totem Lathe and put a Cruxite Dowel into it, then entered the card with the gi on it. Once he got that Totem, he used the card with AG's code to create a different Totem. He Captchalogued them, then went out to the Alchemiter on his roof. Soto had flattened the entire roof, so it was much easier to cross. There were imps in his way, but his computer desk dropped from out of nowhere and flattened them. Soto again. Alex collected the Grist and moved on to the Alchemiter.

He put the Totem for his gi on the platform. The Alchemiter's arm scanned the Totem, and a gi appeared in the middle of the disk. Alex then used the other Totem, curious to see what it would create. After the Alchemiter had scanned it, it produced a rather odd object. It seemed to be the semblance of a black, pointy skull made out some material that Alex couldn't identify. The Alchemiter said that he'd just alchemized a "Doom Icon," whatever that meant. He Captchalogued it, confused. He'd never been one to believe in "fate," but that's what this felt like. His fate.

He noticed that someone was pestering him.

* * *

- amityGhostcaller [AG] began pestering aetherArchivist [AA] at 18:19 –

AG: always remember who you are

AA: What?

AA: …

AA: Hello?

- amityGhostcaller [AG] ceased pestering aetherArchivist [AA] at 18:21 –

* * *

Alex shook his head. That guy was very odd, and he seems to have gotten odder now that Alex was playing SBURB. He wondered if there was a correlation there.

Looking at the two punched cards, Alex thought of something. He went back to the Totem Lathe, put a Cruxite Dowel into it, then put in both cards at the same time, overlapping. He took the Totem created from that and ran it back to the Alchemiter, wishing that Soto had placed them closer together. He then put the Totem into the Alchemiter, extremely interested about what would come of it.

The result was a "Grim Gi." It was pitch black, with the pointy-skull shape of the Doom Icon appearing on its breast in a slightly lighter shade of black. Alex put it on, liking the look of it.

* * *

TA: What did you just do?

AA: I overlapped the cards when I put them into the Totem Lathe

TA: Clever.

AA: I know, right?

AA: Now I'm looking awesome and ready to kill some imps

AA: By the way, you really should leave some for me

AA: …

AA: Hello?

AA: Soto?

AA: Hellooooo?

TA: Oh dear…

AA: What?! What is it?!

TA: Um, you should probably come look at something…

TA: It's on the other side of your house.

TA: I extended the walkway for you.

* * *

Confused, Alex followed the walkway to the other side of the house. As he rounded the corner, he cried out at what he saw. There was Kyle, hanging from a tree branch that extended from the giant tree. He was dead.


	4. Spritely Fun

Soto was close to tears. One of his best friends—not to mention his secret crush—was dead. He didn't even know how it was possible. He was devastated. He almost didn't notice that Pesterchum was flashing.

* * *

- arcticTemerities began pestering temporalArcanum [TA] at 18:27 –

AT: *Arctic barks a greeting to his friend*

AT: How's SBURB going?

* * *

Grief dulled Alex's senses, but something in his subconscious was bugging him. He inspected the body more closely. Something was indeed off. For one thing, Kyle would never where those garish purple… were those pajamas? Also, Kyle kept his hair longer than that. The corpse's hair actually looked more like… Alex's.

* * *

AA: Um, Soto?

AA: I don't think this is Kyle's body

TA: Me neither, considering he just pestered me.

AA: It looks like it's my body, actually…

TA: How do you suppose there are two of you?

AA: I have no friggin clue

TA: Oh hey look, your Kernelsprite's back.

* * *

Alex turned around, and there was a purple dragon-ghost thing. It approached him and spat more gibberish, reminding Alex that it needed to be prototyped again.

* * *

AA: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

TA: You're not seriously going to… Oh dear.

TA: I'm not sure this is a good idea…

AA: Too bad

* * *

Alex used one of his kamas to cut his body down, the noose still around the corpse's neck. He then proceeded to fling his own body—a very odd experience, to say the least—into the Sprite. There was a flash of light.

When it cleared, Alex looked upon an odd sight. It was him, except he was a purple ghost with dragon wings.

"Woah…" Alex's Sprite-self said. "Um, wasn't I dead?"

"Yeah, sorry about that, I needed to prototype something," Alex said.

"Ah yes. I know quite a bit about SBURB, now that I'm a Sprite," Alexsprite said.

"Any idea where Uncle is? I figured he'd be flipping his shit right now."

"Unfortunately, it appears he's been kidnapped."

"Oh man!"

"Yes."

"How are we going to rescue him?!"

"I don't know."

"So what are your Spritely duties, anyways?"

"I'm here to assist you in your journey through The Medium."

"The what now?"

"The Medium is where we are now. This planet, the Land of Swamps and Crystals, is in the ring of nothingness separating the forces of good from the forces of evil in The Incipisphere. It exists removed from the chronology of your world."

"Um, okay?"

"Above the Medium, beyond The Seven Gates, at the core of The Incipisphere, exists Skaia. It's said that it holds unlimited creative potential, although you have to figure out what that means on your own. Naturally, the forces of good and evil, to use the cliché, fight over it: good seeking to protect it, and evil seeking to destroy it. Their battleground exists in the center of Skaia, where they duel in an eternal stalemate. Or, they did, until you showed up."

"Me?"

"Yes. You're aware of how the Kernel and Sprite separated? This actually resulted in a pair of Kernels, one which went to the dark planet Derse, and the other which went to the planet of light, Prospit. The battlefield expands, and each side gains powers based on what has been prototyped. In this case, a dragon, which I find very cool. However, once the real game is on, the good Prospitians are destined to lose."

"So, what do we do? Defeat the Dersians?"

"Actually, they're called Dersites. And the point of the game is for you to discover. It is, in fact, The Ultimate Riddle. Whatever that means."

"So you're not omniscient?"

"Nah, my 'Spritely' knowledge only extends so far. I can tell you, though, that you should start by having Soto build your house up to your First Gate."

"Okay, thanks. That's actually pretty helpful. By the way, do you know how it is that a corpse of me showed up when I'm still here?"

"Yeah, but I should let you figure that out on your own."

"Good for nothing…" Alex muttered.

"Anyways, thanks for prototyping me with a dragon… this is pretty awesome. I'm off to go do some Spritely stuff. See you around. Oh, and you might want to upgrade your kamas, tougher enemies are coming.

"Wait, what?" But Alexsprite was gone. Alex swore and contacted Soto.

* * *

AA: So

AA: That was interesting

TA: What did he say?

AA: I—he—whatever basically said that we need to build up to the First Gate, which is right above my house

AA: Oh, and he said something about a doomed war between good and evil, but I'm not sure how that's relevant to us

TA: Interesting…

TA: Oh, by the way, I've been talking to Kyle.

TA: The White Lady visited him again.

AA: Oh? What did she say this time?

TA: She said that Kyle needed to become my server player quickly, because a meteorite was headed for me.

TA: If we hadn't already started playing this game, I'd be inclined to think that was ridiculous, but…

AA: Yeah, you might want to hop on that pretty soon

TA: Agreed.

TA: I'll start building, though.

AA: Okay, you do that

AA: I need to alchemize some new weapons

TA: Okay.

* * *

Alex went back to Kyle's room, an idea already taking form. He used the Punch Disignix to punch the code for his kamas into a blank Captchalogue card, which he then used with his Doom Icon punched card to carve a totem. When the Alchemiter scanned the produced Totem, the result was… interesting.

There were kamas in the center of the Alchemiter's main platform, but they were like nothing that Alex had ever seen before. The handles seemed to be made of polished ebony, while the blades were black steel. They seemed to be almost… glowing, but not. It was like they were actually absorbing the light around them. The Alchemiter said they were "Soul Catcher Kamas."

Over the course of the next fifteen minutes, Alex ran back and forth between the machines cluttering his house. He combined his smartphone with his glasses to create the Smart Specs, a handy hands-free mobile device. Combining a suit he found in his closet with his Midnight Crew poster gave him a Dapper Tux, a tuxedo consisting of a black tie, black shirt, black vest, shiny black shoes, and a black tailcoat. He put this on, feeling much classier than he had in his Grim Gi. He found a black greatcoat with silver buttons in the foyer that fit him and, deciding that it needed no embellishment, donned it over his Dapper Tux. He noticed that Soto was pestering him.

* * *

TA: Things aren't going very smoothly over here…

TA: I notice you've been busy, though.

AA: Yeah

TA: Anyways, I've built some tower stuff onto your house.

TA: It might be helpful if you cleared your house of these annoying imps. They keep getting in the way.

TA: Although Alexsprite has been eating some of them…

AA: Eating?

TA: Yeah. It's kind of disturbing, actually.

AA: Must be the dragon side…

TA: Anyways, I should be entering the game pretty soon.

AA: The Medium

TA: What?

AA: That's where I am, the Land of Swamps and Crystals, which is a planet in The Medium

TA: I'm not quite sure what that means…

AA: Me neither

AA: Oh well, I'll see you over here

AA: I'mma go check out your handiwork

* * *

Alex crawled out of his window and looked up. There Soto had built a series of platforms connected by ladder. They looked very unsecure. Alex climbed up to the first one, then gulped as he looked down. It was a long way down to his house, and an even longer fall out of the tree. He couldn't even see the roots, because his house was above a layer of clouds.

* * *

AA: Um, are you sure this is safe?

TA: Yeah, it's fine.

TA: I didn't have much Grist to work with.

TA: Also, I have bigger problems to worry about.

TA: By the way, there seems to be something climbing up behind you.

* * *

Alex felt the platform he was on shake, and he spun around. He stared up at enormous thing that had pulled itself onto the platform. It had dragon wings and huge tusks, and it appeared to be made out of amethyst, or something.

Alex gulped as he readied his Soul Catcher Kamas.


End file.
